Another incident of baby swapping being investigated at Tambo Memorial

The Gauteng Department of Health will take disciplinary action against staff involved in the swapping of newborn babies, a boy and girl, at Tambo Memorial Hospital.

This comes after the baby girl’s mother realised when she changed the baby’s nappy that it is not her baby, as she gave birth to a girl but was handed a baby boy by hospital staff on July 24.

According to spokesperson for the Gauteng Department of Health MEC Kwara Kekana, the hospital concedes that the identification of babies and the procedure for discharge had been properly followed.

“The hospital reached out to both families to resolve the matter. Both mothers were interviewed by the sister in charge and HOD and were additionally counselled. The matter was immediately referred to the social worker to facilitate DNA testing of the babies at the request of one of the fathers,” Kekana said.

The DNA test took place on August 4.

Both babies are admitted at Tambo Memorial Hospital while awaiting the DNA results. The hospital will continue to engage both families as part of the redress process.

In August 2010 the hospital also came under fire for swapping two infants. The babies involved were a boy and a girl. It is alleged that a nurse in the maternity ward at the hospital switched the name tags of the babies, which led to the debacle.

One of the mothers involved is from Vosloorus and granted the Advertiser an exclusive interview in 2017.

She gave birth to a baby girl but is still raising the boy she left the hospital with.

Adament she had given birth to a girl despite this being denied by hospital staff, the truth was eventually revealed when the Vosloorus mother had a DNA test done when her ex-husband refused to pay child maintenance, because he believed he was not the father of the child.

In 2015, a court ordered that the error of the hospital staff, who mixed up the babies, could not be rectified and that the children would be raised by the “wrong” mothers until they are at least 18.

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